Sennheiser

Sennheiser and BrandsWalk Host 'The Sounds of LA'

Los Angeles, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/04/2017 --Audio specialist Sennheiser has collaborated with Los Angeles-based tech and fashion curator BrandsWalk to create an immersive 3D audio and visual art installation unlike any other: The Sounds of LA. The public art installation, to be held between October 14th through October 20th at Downtown L.A.'s The Bloc, allows visitors to interact with their favorite sounds of the city — all captured on the AMBEO SMART HEADSET by L.A. social influencers and content curators. The AMBEO SMART HEADSET will be available in the U.S. from 19th October.

The art installation features a large 6' gallery cube on which a static image from each storyteller is cast. Accessing an adjacent kiosk with a pair of headphones, attendees can then listen to a fully immersive, 3D audio track that each storyteller created while experiencing a different 'unique slice' of L.A. — each segment captured using the Sennheiser AMBEO SMART HEADSET. The content itself ranges from skating through the streets of downtown L.A. and hiking Los Liones to the sounds of music and the city.

"We invite the public to visit the 'Sounds of LA' art installation, which provides a startling glimpse into the future of audio," commented Stefanie Reichert, Director Trade Marketing, Retail, Americas at Sennheiser. "With the help of our friends at BrandsWalk, The Bloc and our talented pool of influencers and content curators around L.A., we are showcasing a revolutionary way of capturing content that requires the use of just a smartphone and the new Sennheiser AMBEO SMART HEADSET. Immersive audio technology has arrived for the masses, and the possibilities are only limited by each user's own imagination."

The Sennheiser AMBEO SMART HEADSET is a headset featuring a recording function that allows users to experience and produce 3D video sound. The headset's binaural audio delivers an immersive 3D experience, placing the listener inside the soundscape and replicating the direction of sounds and spatial characteristics of the user's environment. For the binaural audio recordings, the earpiece of the headset is fitted with two quality microphones. The immersive effect, which can be experienced on playback with any stereo headphones, is made possible by reproducing the subtle differences in timing, volume and timbre that occur as sounds from different directions reach each ear.

A sonic vantage point

Chris Ray, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, is among the content curators to be featured during the installation. An L.A. native and passionate skateboarder for more than 15 years, Ray is intimately familiar with the sounds of L.A. as experienced from the unique vantage point of his skateboard deck. The 'Sounds of LA' installation imparts this sensation to listeners as he traverses the sidewalks, hills and busy streets of the city.

"Los Angeles is the capital and birthplace of skateboarding and the sound of a skateboard always makes me turn my head," he says. "With the Sennheiser AMBEO SMART HEADSET, I am able to capture flawless audio in 360 degrees while using just a pair of headphones. Playback gives one the feeling of being there in real life, and the listener can hear exactly what the skateboarder heard while he was on his board."

A context for self-expression

The Bloc and BrandsWalk present an ideal platform for the 'Sounds of LA' cooperation, combining a vibrant, open-air environment with a community that is deeply rooted in both fashion and technology. The Bloc — which spans a full L.A. city block and is a convergence point for four separate Metro lines — combines a truly unique array of retail shops and entertainment to create a stimulating urban center.

Inside the BrandsWalk store, which is directly adjacent to the installation area, visitors will have the opportunity to learn more about the AMBEO SMART HEADSET from Sennheiser brand ambassadors. Also, visitors can take time to browse through the store's immaculately curated collection of tech-fashion products that speak to the individuality and tech-savviness of the millennial generation.

"We are excited to debut the Sennheiser AMBEO SMART HEADSET at our Los Angeles flagship store at The Bloc in downtown LA," said Mary Lee, President of BrandsWalk. "It's been our vision to provide our customers the experience to touch and feel the products in our store and we would like to thank Sennheiser and The Bloc for making this possible."

Several AMBEO SMART HEADSET loaner units will be made available each day, so attendees can experiment capturing the sounds of L.A. using their own smartphones. Playback of the immersive audio content is effective through any pair of stereo headphones — including Sennheiser's HD 1 Wireless and PXC 550 Wireless models, which will also be on display during the installation.

BrandsWalk's Los Angeles flagship store is located at the plaza level of The Bloc, 700 South Flower, Los Angeles, CA 90017.

About The Bloc
An urbane property at the heart of downtown Los Angeles, The Bloc brings Angelenos together in a vibrant, open-air, truly urban center. Acquired by The Ratkovich Company with partners National Real Estate Advisors and Blue Vista Capital Management in June 2013, The Bloc inhabits a full city block with $180 million in renovations to create an experiential activation of unique shops, premier retailers, restaurants and entertainment serving the newly flagged Sheraton Grand Los Angeles hotel, office tower and downtown neighbors. Originally built in 1973 by architect Charles Luckman, the development is the single largest mixed-use property in Los Angeles, reinvented to deliver an energetic connecting point, bringing people together to discover in a welcoming, stimulating urban center. It is anchored by a fully renovated Macy's Flagship store and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (2018), the completely reimagined Sheraton Grand Los Angeles, and a 722,000 square foot creative-leaning office tower. The Bloc is LEED certified and known for its connectivity, with the direct connection to 7th Street Metro Center Station where four lines converge, curating a favored DTLA destination.

About BrandsWalk
BrandsWalk believes that Tech is Fashion®. Technology is so intertwined in our daily lives, it has become an expression of one's fashion and individuality. Our mission is to be in the forefront of fashionable technology by providing the best in tech fashion products and accessories. We partner with premium brands that share our vision and love for avant-garde product design. When we started our company in 2012, we foresaw early on that Tech products and accessories would eventually become very fashionable and that Fashion products and accessories would eventually incorporate technology. We named our company "BrandsWalk" as we envisioned all of our Brand Partners' products being showcased on a catwalk.

About Sennheiser
Sennheiser is shaping the future of audio – a vision built on more than 70 years of innovation culture, which is deeply rooted within the company. Founded in 1945, Sennheiser remains family-owned and is today one of the world's leading manufacturers of headphones, microphones and wireless transmission systems. With 20 sales subsidiaries and long-established trading partners, the company is active in more than 50 countries and operates its own production facilities in Germany, Ireland and the USA. Sennheiser has around 2,800 employees around the world that share a passion for audio. Since 2013, Sennheiser has been managed by Daniel Sennheiser and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser, the third generation of the family to run the company. In 2016, the Sennheiser Group had sales totaling 658.4 million.